Fact check: Trump never called for the ‘murder’ of terrorists’ families

As it turns out, hyperbole isn’t just an extreme actor from the Indian subcontinent. With one of the trademarks of the Trump for President campaign being the claim that the media is either hard left leaning or nesting comfortably in the hip pockets of the establishment political parties, or both, the latest from the Fourth Estate just may be proving Trump’s point.

On the heels of the accusations of The Donald openly calling for the murder of the families of terrorists still reverberating off the walls of the Fox Theater in Detroit, Michigan, the politically partisan press is echoing the same charge against the Republican front runner. As reported by Victor Morton of the normally right-leaning The Washington Times on Mar. 3, 2016, Trump is flatly guilty, if elected, of ready to order the U.S. Armed Forces to commit “war crimes.”

But the denouncement of the multi-billionaire businessman isn’t solely on this side of the Atlantic. Also reported by Hardeep Matharu of the standard bearer of British liberalism The Independent on Mar. 4, 2016, Trump “reiterated his desire for the US military to carry out the intentional killings of terrorists’ families” at the Fox News Republican Presidential Debate just held in the Motor City.

However, the interview that was the catalyst for the whole “murder terrorists families” brouhaha actually is more than three months old. And as it turns out, the media coverage initially of the murder accusation was weakly covered, at best. That is until a number of media outlets have followed the drum beat of Trump’s presidential opponents Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) as they resurrected the murder charge against the presumptive nominee.

Covered by the Fox News Insider news portal on Dec. 2, 2015, Trump appeared on the Fox News morning program Fox & Friends the same day to discuss his plans and policies in regards to world-wide Islamic jihadist terrorism. While being interviewed by co-host Brian Kilmeade, Trump stated that Barack Obama “doesn’t know what he’s doing and all he’s worried about is climate change” when it comes to taking on the ISIS terrorist organization, and that Obama is also guilty of “fighting a very politically correct war.”

Not quite done yet, Trump also added, “I would knock the hell out of ISIS. I would hit them, Brian so hard, like they’ve never been hit before.” When asked about the possibility of collateral damage in the form of civilian casualties, Trump said he would “try his best” to avoid them before stating what the Israelis have known all along – Islamist terrorists care little of avoiding civilian casualties, even if said civilian casualties are members of their own families.

With it understood that the current ROE (Rules Of Engagement) for American troops often forbids our nation’s warriors from engaging the enemy if the slightest chance of civilian casualties presents itself, even if it means our boys face the threat of death or serious bodily harm, Trump doubled down. Noting that the jihadists would often use their own family members as “human shields,” he obviously summarized that if it came down to our troops being killed, or the terrorists human shields being killed, “And the other thing with the terrorists — you have to take out their families.”